Ballmer just opened the Second Envelope — You know the business lore joke. The departing CEO meets his successor and hands him three envelopes to be opened in the prescribed order when trouble strikes. First crisis, the message in envelope #1 says: Blame your predecessor. Easy enough.

4G wireless: It's fast, but outstripped by hype — NEW YORK — Cell phone companies are about to barrage consumers with advertising for the next advance in wireless network technology: “4G” access. The companies are promising faster speeds and the thrill of being the first on the block to use a new acronym.

Thoughts on Wrapping Up Microsoft's FY10 — Well, here's to wrapping up FY10. The kick-off of the Annual Review Season is our long, long, sloppy kiss goodnight to the fiscal year that was. — How are various things wrapping up? — Entertainment and Devices: with Bach and Allard …

China Rips Off The iPad With The iPed — The iPad finally goes on sale in Japan today. The country's TV news have been covering the launch as well as another product on sale in nearby China: the iPed. — According to this TBS news report, the iPed is on sale in Shenzhen, China.

I Prefer Safari to Content Apps On The iPad — I've tried a few content apps on the iPad, including the much discussed Wired app. But I don't like reading content via apps on the iPad and I gravitate to the Safari browser. — There are a bunch of reasons I feel this way and I thought I'd articulate them:

Putting Online Privacy in Perspective — When I wrote last week about Facebook privacy flap, I was speaking out of the frustration that many technologists with a sense of perspective feel when we see uninformed media hysteria about the impact of new technology.

Mobile TV's Last Frontier: U.S. and Europe — BERLIN — When South Korea plays Greece on June 12 in its World Cup soccer opener in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, life will not necessarily grind to a halt back in Seoul. — Many fans will instead follow a live broadcast of the match on their mobile phones.

Will Apple Embrace the Web? No. — I've been meaning to write this for some time, and for all the time I delayed the more poignant the point I wanted to make started to become as new news came out further solidifying my angle. When I begun writing this article the iPad had not yet been revealed …